Microsoft Azure now hosts tools to help police solve crimes

Thanks to a computer software update, UK police can now access some impressive crime-solving tools through Microsoft’s cloud platform.

Microsoft Azure now offers an analytics tool which will aid officers to piece together crucial information in a new, efficient way.

A data analytics company, Chorus Intelligence, works with all of the UK’s counter-terrorism units and most of its police forces. It has now announced that its Investigator and Analyser solutions will now be available via Microsoft Azure.

So, what are these new Microsoft Azure tools all about?

So, as mentioned, there are two new tools for forces to get excited about – Analyser and Investigator.

The former will allow Intelligence Analysts to manage millions of pieces of information. This can include device downloads and call logs. Once managed, it should help the police to spot patterns and sequences of events.

Investigator, on the other hand, will help offices to observe the most important parts of a case. Being able to see what happened, as well as where and when it happened, will help police develop fast lines of enquiry.

“We are excited”

In a post on the Microsoft website, Mike Riordan – the brand’s UK Police Lead – expressed his excitement about the development.

“Microsoft Azure helps Chorus Intelligence deploy solutions that enable law enforcement to focus more on solving crime and less on managing servers,” he said.

“Chorus’ Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions allow police customers to take advantage of the flexibility and enterprise-grade reliability that Azure provides.”

He added: “All too often UK forces struggle to adopt improved operational services due to their legacy technology stack, and the SaaS delivery method from Chorus, which has been approved by those in the Police ICT Company, provides the speed to service which policing requires in order to counter today’s threats.

“We are excited to see companies like Chorus Intelligence add value by integrating its solutions with Azure, where future enhanced capability can be quickly tested and deployed into operational use.”

Microsoft Azure now contains tools that help police solve crimes. Credit: Pixabay

Will this really enhance policing?

The team behind the tools, Chorus, believe so. By making them available through Azure, they say police forces will benefit from the power of the cloud.

Regardless of their investigation’s difficulty, Chorus believe police will save time and money. This is because they will only be paying for what they need.

Moreover, it’s secure. After the UK’s National Police Information Risk Management Team reviewed its data servers, data can be safely stored and accessed in Microsoft’s cloud.

Chief Executive of Chorus, Boyd Mulvey, says the company is pleased to offer Chorus in the cloud with Microsoft Azure. He claims it will allow law enforcement to embrace cloud-first principles. Meanwhile he reiterated that it will cut costs and support investigators to work more securely, efficiently and collaboratively.

An analytics tool that lets police officers quickly piece together crucial information so they can solve crimes has been made available to all forces on Microsoft’s cloud platform Azure. 👩‍✈️👨‍✈️ Find out more: https://t.co/NDnA7koA5W pic.twitter.com/fRVqCQ1IYH

— Microsoft Scotland (@MSFTScotland) February 14, 2019

He added: “After reviewing all potential cloud partners, it became clear that Microsoft Azure was the right cloud solution for Chorus and our customers.

“From county lines crime to missing persons, crime does not stay within force boundaries. We wholeheartedly believe that data and intelligence must travel securely with the case in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the investigation – and wider utilisation of the cloud to share data and analysis will provide the means to do that.”

Further information can be found via the Microsoft article confirming the development.